• Posted 12/19/2024.
    =====================

    I am still waiting on my developer to finish up on the Classifieds Control Panel so I can use it to encourage members into becoming paying members. Google Adsense has become a real burden on the viewing of this site, but honestly it is the ONLY source of income now that keeps it afloat. I tried offering disabling the ads being viewed by paying members, but apparently that is not enough incentive. Quite frankly, Google Adsense has dropped down to where it barely brings in enough daily to match even a single paid member per day. But it still gets the bills paid. But at what cost?

    So even without the classifieds control panel being complete, I believe I am going to have to disable those Google ads completely and likely disable some options here that have been free since going to the new platform. Like classified ad bumping, member name changes, and anything else I can use to encourage this site to be supported by the members instead of the Google Adsense ads.

    But there is risk involved. I will not pay out of pocket for very long during this last ditch experimental effort. If I find that the membership does not want to support this site with memberships, then I cannot support your being able to post your classified ads here for free. No, I am not intending to start charging for your posting ads here. I will just shut the site down and that will be it. I will be done with FaunaClassifieds. I certainly don't need this, and can live the rest of my life just fine without it. If I see that no one else really wants it to survive neither, then so be it. It goes away and you all can just go elsewhere to advertise your animals and merchandise.

    Not sure when this will take place, and I don't intend to give any further warning concerning the disabling of the Google Adsense. Just as there probably won't be any warning if I decide to close down this site. You will just come here and there will be some sort of message that the site is gone, and you have a nice day.

    I have been trying to make a go of this site for a very long time. And quite frankly, I am just tired of trying. I had hoped that enough people would be willing to help me help you all have a free outlet to offer your stuff for sale. But every year I see less and less people coming to this site, much less supporting it financially. That is fine. I tried. I retired the SerpenCo business about 14 years ago, so retiring out of this business completely is not that big if a step for me, nor will it be especially painful to do. When I was in Thailand, I did not check in here for three weeks. I didn't miss it even a little bit. So if you all want it to remain, it will be in your hands. I really don't care either way.

    =====================
    Some people have indicated that finding the method to contribute is rather difficult. And I have to admit, that it is not all that obvious. So to help, here is a thread to help as a quide. How to become a contributing member of FaunaClassifieds.

    And for the record, I will be shutting down the Google Adsense ads on January 1, 2025.
  • In short, DON'T! Email notices are to ONLY alert you of a reply to your private message or your ad on this site. Replying to the email just wastes your time as it goes NOWHERE, and probably pisses off the person you thought you replied to when they think you just ignored them. So instead of complaining to me about your messages not being replied to from this site via email, please READ that email notice that plainly states what you need to do in order to reply to who you are trying to converse with.

My article in USA Today

Chance

Chance Duncan
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Not trying to toot my own horn here, but I thought some of you might appreciate this article in USA Today:

https://www.usatoday.com/story/life...ndangered-snake-species-in-class/70925342007/

We've been working on this LA pine breeding project in my classroom since 2016, and this year we finally managed to get fertile eggs and hatch 4 feisty little babies!

I keep a menagerie of various critters in my classroom and I'm stupid fortunate to teach where I do. My district not only tolerates my reptile eccentricities and allows me to keep them in my room, but they also let me offer "Critter Care" advisory sessions - basically a 30-min session in the morning where students learn the natural history and captive husbandry of the animals.

This kind of exposure has helped countless students get over their ophidiophobia, and I'm happy to say I've also inspired at least a few budding young herpers. That I can also help students make personal connections with endangered species and maybe go on to donate or help raise awareness about them is a huge bonus!
 
Alas no, my animals aren't part of any AZA studbook and they've been housed near exotics, so they aren't candidates for release. Their offspring will just continue to perpetuate the captive gene pool.

That being said, I have a group of students who are about to use them in a genetics research project. We've located two genes that we can get sequences specific to ruthveni. We're going to extract DNA from our animals and from sheds from animals at one of the zoos breeding ruthveni, target the genes of interest, and confirm the genetic identity of our animals. We also should be able to calculate the heterozygosity between the animals to see how related they are. We're hoping to use this project in some of our local science fair competitions, since there aren't too many schools doing this kind of genetics and ecological research.
 
Very exciting! I read it earlier in the week on Kingsnake.com. There is a lot to be proud of, congratulations. When I was in elementary school (4 decades ago, lol), I would be allowed to bring in herps that I would catch at the creek and house them in the room for a while. We would do lessons with them and then I would release them back where I found them before winter hibernation. Your situation is rare to say the least. Keep up the good work.
 
That being said, I have a group of students who are about to use them in a genetics research project.

That will be a great experience for them.

I'm no scientist, but just today I was trying to work through a debate in the taxonomy of Lampropeltis, and the technical details are really hard for me to grasp. A basic understanding of how how sequencing works in these contexts would help me to better understand the zoomed-out issues like how many species there actually are in a given species complex (that's what the debate was, basically).
 
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